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The Foraging Behaviour of Neotropical Social Wasps

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Neotropical Social Wasps

Abstract

The evolution of eusociality among the Hymenoptera is related to the development of colonies with big populations, which in turn presented these social insects with the need for a constant intake of nutrients necessary for their collective survival. Taking a closer look on how the social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) manage to provide their colony with resources is of great value to understand the evolution of social life, but also the impact insect societies have on the environments they live in. Here, we attempt to explore the foraging behaviour of vespids, summarizing its general aspects and defining historically established key concepts. We build on previous reviews while bringing updated references and focusing on the literature on Neotropical social wasps (Polistinae). In this chapter, we define and investigate a series of topics, including the foraging activity of colonies, the flight range of foragers, the intricacies of the trophallaxis behaviour, the search and obtainment of different types of resources, and their storage inside nests. Finally, we attempt to diagnose the issues and challenges faced by Neotropical wasp researchers and suggest a few ways investigations may take for the advancement of the field when studying the foraging behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Bruno C. Barbosa for his support during the writing of this chapter and for providing the photographs used to illustrate foraging behaviours. We also thank Dr. Jennifer M. Jandt for her valuable insights during the revision of our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Mateus Detoni

  2. Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil

    Fábio Prezoto

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  1. Mateus Detoni
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Fabio Prezoto

  2. Universidade De Sao Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Fabio Santos Nascimento

  3. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Bruno Corrêa Barbosa

  4. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Alexandre Somavilla

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Detoni, M., Prezoto, F. (2021). The Foraging Behaviour of Neotropical Social Wasps. In: Prezoto, F., Nascimento, F.S., Barbosa, B.C., Somavilla, A. (eds) Neotropical Social Wasps. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53510-0_3

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